Blues
Blues was a Corporal of the 6th Blade of the Crimson Guard.Gardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.xvi He was a Napan and considered to be one of the Guard's most powerful mages and its preeminent finesse swordsman.Stonewielder, Chapter 12, UK TPB p.584Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 1, UK Bantam Press edition p.265 He was described as "a muscular squat fellow, dark-skinned".Stonewielder, Chapter 3, UK TPB p.139 He was the Guard's weaponmaster and carried sticks, knives, and twinned longswords.Assail (novel), Chapter 1 He often played with a pair of short sticks when doing nothing else. In Gardens of the Moon ] Blues appeared on the night of the Gedderone Fête in Darujhistan, where he had been on a protective detail for the Coinbearer on the orders of the K'azz D'Avore. He engaged in a duel with the Adjunct Lorn using two scimitars, and bewildered her with his speed and skill, fighting without the use of any magery. He seriously wounded her, and Lorn had to take a cut on her shoulder just to disengage. Lorn withdrew from the fight, giving it up as a lost cause.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 23 In Midnight Tides Crimson Guard mage, Corlo, told Seren Pedac that Blues was among the best fighters of the Avowed. The mage placed him in the same rank as Black the Elder, Halfdan, Iron Bars, Jup Alat, or Poll.Midnight Tides, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.578 Iron Bars compared Emperor Rhulad Sengar's potential fighting prowess to that of Blues, Shimmer, or even Skinner given another five more years of training.Midnight Tides, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.505 In Return of the Crimson Guard Blues later reappeared under the assumed name of "Grief" and along with Treat liberated the Malazan mages being held prisoner in The Pit mining camp on Otataral Island.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 4, UK PB p.391-403 The pair joined the rest of their Blade on board the Forlorn to transport their new recruits back to the Guard.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 5, UK PB p.462 Along the way the Malazan mages sensed momentous events involving the Guard near Li Heng and Yathengar 'ul Amal convinced Blues to allow a ritual that would speed their travel. The ritual brought their ship through the warren of Serc. But Yathengar betrayed his rescuers, sending the ship into Chaos before opening a rent into the midst of the Battle of the Plains.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 3, UK PB p.630-633 The Forlorn crashed, spewing Blues and the others onto the field. Blues and the surviving Avowed, along with the mage Ho and a Malazan saboteur squad, attempted to defeat Yathengar, but were overpowered. They then provided protection for the Malazan High Mage Tayschrenn until he and Yathengar disappeared into the rent just before it was closed with Moranth munitions.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 3, UK PB p.650/656/660 Blues soon reunited with the Guard, now once again under K'azz D'Avore's leadership, and left for Stratem by Warren.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 4, UK PB p.672 In Stonewielder After the Battle of the Plains, Blues returned to Stratem with the rest of Guard. There he became the Lord Governor of Haven Province.Stonewielder, Prologue, UK TPB p.39 Upon receiving word that missing Guardsman Iron Bars was a prisoner on the Stormwall, Blues led Fingers, Lazar, and Shell on a rescue mission. They crossed from Stratem to the Lands of Fist by foot, running afoul of the Chase, a Jheck war band.Stonewielder, Chapter 3, UK TPB p.137-141 After crossing the Iceback Range into the Plains of Blight, they hired Orzu and his clan of Sea-Folk to sail them to Korel Island.Stonewielder, Chapter 5, UK TPB p.267 When they reached the Stormguard fortress at Shelter, they infiltrated the Stormwall by passing themselves off as prisoners.Stonewielder, Chapter 7, UK TPB p.349 Blues fought expertly on the Wall and was placed in the thick of the fighting. Towards the end, when the Stormwall was coming down around them, he and his squad made their move to rescue Bars. Blues fought a divinely blessed Wall Marshal Quint in hand to hand combat, surprising the Mortal Sword with his inhuman resilience. Then he, Shell, and Fingers fought the Malazan High Mage Ussü before retrieving Bars, Corlo, and Jemain. Before the Wall came down Blues transported them all away by Warren.Stonewielder, Chapter 12, UK TPB p.581-593 Once free, they sensed Skinner and his Disavowed at the Sky Tower. They raced to meet them only to see their former comrades disappear into a Warren with a fragment of the Crippled God. Blues and the others returned to Stratem to inform K'azz D'Avore.Stonewielder, Chapter 12, UK TPB p.615-619 In Assail Blues travelled to Assail as part of Shimmer's expedition to find Cal-Brinn and the lost Fourth Company. As the Guard neared Cal-Brinn on the high peaks of the Salt Mountains, Iron Bars and other members of the Guard began to succumb to the extreme cold of Omtose Phellack. But Blues, K'azz D'Avore, and Shimmer were not affected. K'azz asked Iron Bars and the others suffering to go back off the ice for their own safety. At the top of the mountain the remaining Guard learned from Silverfox and Kilava Onass that their vow had made them, in effect, T'lan Imass. Those, like Blues, who did not feel the cold had died sometime in the past and been brought back by the magic of the vow.Assail (novel), Chapter 14 Notes and references de:Moll Category:Avowed Category:Corporals Category:D'riss mages Category:Mages Category:Males Category:Napans Category:Crimson Guard members